With the changing landscape of how we access the Internet and social media usage becoming mainstream, new opportunities have opened for businesses to engage with customers online. Thanks to innovative platforms like HubSpot, you can create complex and interactive marketing strategies to reach your audience where they are, whether that’s on a blog, in your social media channels or, in some cases, all of the above.
As a business owner or marketer, it’s important to understand how to take advantage of these new platforms and the multiple ways in which customers can engage with your brand. In this article, we’ll discuss the online marketing advantages offered by digital nomads, how to engage with your audience and why video content is growing faster than other types of content.
The Rise Of Online Marketing
Last year, Google search interest for “online marketing” reached its highest since 2008, suggesting that more and more people are finding their way to the digital marketing platforms Google, Bing and Yahoo to learn more about how to sell products online.
Whether you call it digital marketing, SEO or online marketing, the opportunities for businesses to reach and engage with customers online have never been greater. Thanks to the growing influence of social media platforms, businesses can now interact with customers on a whole new level. Thanks to Google’s “show snippets” feature and Twitter’s “tweets” and “moments”, online marketing has evolved from solely search engine optimization (SEO) to include more than just getting your website or blog to show up in search results.
An increasing number of businesses are moving away from broadcast mode and toward content marketing, an approach that focuses more on establishing influencers and engaging with customers through multiple platforms and tactics, such as SEO, social media marketing (SMM) and content creation.
Why Video Content Is On The Rise
While there are multiple advantages to using video content in marketing, the biggest motivating factor seems to be the desire to engage with customers through their favorite mode of communication. Thanks to platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, businesses can now create video content and disseminate it through social media channels effectively, gaining instant credibility and interest from viewers.
YouTube’s massive user base and Facebook’s massive audience mean that businesses can quickly reach a large portion of their target audience on the platform, providing the opportunity for effective marketing without the overwhelm of trying to reach everyone directly through traditional methods. Twitter users already have thousands of choices for what they want to see, making it easy for businesses to find the right content to engage with their audience.
The Rising Influence Of Influencers
While traditional media, such as print and TV, remain important platforms for advertising and marketing, the influence of famous people and personalities in our society continues to grow, especially in today’s digitally connected world. Thanks to platforms like YouTube, where creators can gain credibility and trust, and Twitter, where influencers can quickly build an audience, brands are increasingly turning to these “celebrities” to help them gain a following and encourage others to seek out their content.
In the next few years, the influencer market will grow exponentially, especially as brands and businesses realize the marketing potential of this powerful platform. Influencers can help businesses build credibility and trust with potential customers, generate interest in their products, and help to establish thought leadership.
Blogs Are Still King (Sort Of)
Yes, Google search interest for “blogging” is continuing to rise, suggesting that more people are turning to digital nomads’ expertise for advice on a whole new range of topics, from travel to health and wellness to shopping. However, contrary to popular belief, blogs aren’t going anywhere, and SEOs and content marketers will need to continue evolving their strategies to keep up with changing customer behavior and the ever-growing number of platforms and social media channels available to businesses.
While Google search interest is rising for blogs, it’s also rising for microblogging platforms like Twitter and Instagram, meaning that people are using these channels rather than search to find the content they want to read. Thanks to the relative ease of use and copy/paste functionality on platforms like WordPress and Google Docs, creating a blog isn’t as difficult or time-consuming as it used to be, meaning that more people have the opportunity to share their insights and tips with the world. While blogs can be a powerful tool for businesses, the sheer amount of content available on social media channels means that SEO and content marketers should always be on the lookout for new and innovative ways to attract, engage and enlighten their audience.
Keep A Pulse On The Trends
Keeping up with the ever-changing world of marketing and advertising can be difficult, especially as a small business owner or marketer. Thanks to tools like Google Analytics and Hootsuite, which provides a bird’s eye view of all the social media channels a business uses, digital nomads can keep a pulse on the latest trends and changes in their industry. Tools like these make it easy to track what’s working and what needs to be changed in order to continue growing and thriving as a business.
As we’ve established, video content is on the rise thanks to the influence of social media and YouTube, and with that comes an opportunity to engage with viewers effectively and creatively. Thanks to innovations like virtual reality and augmented reality, business owners and marketers can now target their audiences in entirely new ways, providing the opportunity to create highly immersive content that drives a business’ marketing strategy, attracting customers, encouraging them to action and growing their industry.
Whether you call it SEO, digital marketing or online marketing, the landscape of how businesses acquire customers and engage with them continues to evolve, transforming how businesses can do business and how we as marketers can craft effective strategies and tactics for businesses to use.